Junpuu Ramen

Should’ve ordered something hotter than the regular spicy ramen. The soup was on point and the noodle was very well cooked. Only thing was that the pork isn’t really that impressive. All in all, I’m pretty sure this place won’t let any ramen aficionado down.

I’m a ramen addict. With so many ramen places located in Shirokiya, I couldn’t decide where to place my order. I ran into some high school kids who had bowls of ramen from Junpuu. They told me that this place was good, so I decided to try them out.
I ordered the #14, Garlic Shio Ramen with Egg. I also got a five piece gyoza to go with it. The garlic shio broth was really flavorful, but also very oily. If you look at my pics below, the bowl was just super oily. It came with two thin pieces of pork, round and green onions, and an ajitama egg.
The pork was ok. It wasn’t the most tender, even with the fat on it. The round onion pieces was a nice change. It added crispness to the bowl. The ajitama egg stole the show. It was the best ajitama egg I’ve ever had, at any ramen place. The outside was seasoned to perfection and the yolk inside had the perfect texture. It was creamy and runny. Most ramen places cut the egg in half for you. When I saw the whole egg, I was worried that it would be overcooked, like so many other places. When I bit into it, I almost died. Now, I understood why it wasn’t cut in half. The yolk would have been all over the bowl of noodles. I was so tempted to buy another egg. The noodles were cooked al dente and from Sun Noodles. I’m not sure if it’s a monopoly, but every ramen place that I’ve been to all told me that they get their noodles from Sun.
I’ve had better gyoza. It was rather small and stuck together. I tasted pork, cabbage, onion, and ginger.

Junpuu is located in the back corner of the Yataimura in Shirokiya. There are so many ramen shops around Honolulu now that it’s going to take a lot to stand above rest. Heck, at the Yataimura alone has several ramen shops!
Junpuu offers Miso, Shio, Shoyu, and Tan Tan broths. You can choose your spice level: less spicy (½) to Fire (5x), and the next levels are Death (10x), Mega Death (20x), and Giga Death (30x). I am curious how intense the Giga Death is, but hey, why not go to Tera Death for 50x?! :) The prices range from around $ 10 for the basic ramen, and goes up in increments by whatever topping you want (egg and/​or char siu) to around $ 13.
On my first visit, I had the #1: Special Spicy Miso Ramen ($ 13.50) plus an order of 5-​piece gyoza ($ 4.50). At first glance, the ramen looked very similar to the Kara Miso Ramen at Hokkaido Santouka with the char siu, ajitama, menma, and the redness from the spices, and anything that looks similar to anything from Hokkaido Santouka will be absolutely delicious. The broth was very aromatic, and you can smell the miso immediately. The first taste of the broth was amazing. It had very good earthy, miso flavor that was very tasty, and it was not salty or felt like it was packed with sodium either. The redness of the broth may give off the appearance that it will be very spicy, but that was not the case. The spicy level was very mild and subtle. I’m a big fan of menma (bamboo shoots) in my ramen because it adds that needed bitterness and crunchiness. The char siu was so-​so. I received a mixture of lean and fatty, and thin and thick slices of char siu, and it was more on the bland and tough side. The ajitama (soft-​boiled egg) was amazing. It had a light soy taste on the outside and the perfect, gooey and creamy yolk. That’s how I want my eggs, every time. The noodles were the typical thin-​style Ramen sourced from Sun Noodles. It was cooked to a nice al-​dente that soaked up the broth very well. Overall, this was a very tasty, delicious, well-​prepared, and well-​constructed bowl of Ramen that hit every flavor profile and with different textures.
The gyoza was what a Japanese gyoza should be: thin wrapper that’s pan-​fried to a crispy golden brown, tasty and fresh filling with just a few ingredients (pork and cabbage) and seasonings, and wrapped correctly and precisely enclosed with multiple pleats.
I knew I wanted to return here one more time and try the Tan Tan Ramen because it’s one of my favorites, and wow, I was impressed. The broth was VERY GOOD. It was super creamy and silky with a very strong sesame flavor that had incredible nuttiness and earthiness. The aroma of it was intoxicating. This Tan Tan was an in-​your-​face Tan Tan. It was the total opposite from the more subtle Tan Tan from Goma Ichi. The egg was absolutely delicious again, and the menma was awesome. The char siu was better this time as the slices were more uniform, more tender, and more flavorful. For this ramen, it also came with minced pork and mixed greens. I didn’t mind the minced pork because it was very tasty and added more savoriness to the ramen, but it was tad too much since you already have the char siu plus the egg and the creamy broth. The mixed green seemed random, but it was the right ingredient for this ramen because it added a freshness to the ramen that cut into the richness of the broth. Overall, this was another successful bowl of ramen that was very well-​balanced in flavors and really showcased the star of the Tan Tan: the sesame.
This is up there as one of my favorite ramen shops. With flavorful broths, fresh ingredients, and well-​prepared, well-​constructed, and well-​portioned bowls of ramen, you can’t go wrong. You can tell the chef and owner takes pride in his work, and it’s always great to see him back there pumping out orders of ramen. Oddly enough, I later learned that the owner and chef of Junpuu opened Hokkaido Santouka Ramen. No wonder!

Took Kat D’s recommendation on ramen here at Junpuu located in the Shirokiya food court. Though surrounded by other ramen joints, I can see why they stay open. I asked the ramen maker that was working what their most popular selection was, and he said between their four soup base offerings (shoyu, tonkotsu, tan tan and tomato) shoyu and tomato are the most frequently ordered.
Not feeling particularly adventurous, I went with the #9 Original Special Shoyu Ramen. The portion size was a little on the smaller side, but toppings were generous! I love that menma (bamboo shoots) are included in the order, unlike some ramen places that require a side order. The soft boiled egg was perfectly done, with fully cooked egg whites and soft yolk inside. Broth was excellent too, not to salty or too thick.
Definate thumbs up on Junpuu Ramen!

Ever since I’ve left Japan, eating ramen was never the same. Junpuu came close to the comfort of reliving the days of slurping big bowls of ramen with its savory slices of tender char siu steaming in a hot broth as sweat beads form on my forehead. Ahh… that’s the good stuff.
They’re four soup base flavors to choose from including tomato, tonkotsu, shoyu & tan tan with egg, char siu, «special» or original options. I’m not a spice girl, so the shoyu broth is my default & if there’s char siu on the menu, I’ll always go with that option. Although the thin, yellow noodles aren’t made fresh right then & there like a Murakame Udon show, it’s nothing like instant noodles. One thing that I dislike about char siu in my ramen is the false hope of devouring enormous pieces of marinated braised pork when it ends up being too lean & bland. What a waste. However, the char siu here is fatty & flavorful, cut up into bite-​sized pieces. If you’re riffling through Shirokiya on an empty stomach, fill it up with one of Junpuu’s flavorsome broths.